If you ask the average Man Utd fan I am sure they will state categorically that their team will win on Friday evening when the Red Devils visit the Tottenham stadium.
The same obviously applies with us Tottenham fans, I certainly feel that we will beat them.
If you ask other clubs fans a lot will depend on their own biases, for example, who do you think an Arsenal fan will predict to win the game and the same with a Man City fan.
To some degree, the same applies with pundits, I have not checked but I would bet a wad of money that Gary Neville will not be plumping for a Spurs win.
So, with that in mind, what is the best way to gauge a teams chances based on opinions if football fans are deemed unreliable? Well, for me it is the bookies.
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Bookies tend to judge better than fans simply because they are not looking at a particular game or event from an emotional viewpoint, they look ar it strictly from a financial angle, they seriously do not like to lose money.
All bookies that I have checked with have United as slight favourites, not by a significant amount but enough. The best price available right now for a United win is 2.53, whereas a Tottenham win is best priced at 2.95.
Now, for me, that screams value for a Tottenham win and I will certainly be taking a bit of that but it does go to show that the advantage does currently lie with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men and it is also a bit of a turnaround because I do recall Spurs being favourites last season.
Obviously, home advantage has been negated by the fact the game will be behind closed doors but I suspect that too much emphasis is being put on the respective teams form prior to football’s suspension. That has also been negated and that is why I am of the opinion that all things being equal, Tottenham will win and collect all three points come Friday night.
I hope not…
It’ll be the usual backs to the wall job.
So how will play on Friday? Will we match them toe to toe or do we revert to our default setting under Jose and soak up all the pressure?
I wish I shared your optimism Bruce. I think they have too much pace for us and we don’t have a good defensive midfielder, add in a ramshackle defence and wobbly goalkeeper and I will not go against the bookies.